LA Tech Football adds to 2018 signing class

RUSTON, La. – Less than two months removed from inking 14 signees to the 2018 signing class, Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz announced the addition of 10 additional new faces to what resulted in an impressive class for the Bulldog Football program.

On Dec. 20, 2017, Louisiana Tech set up its signing day headquarters in a meeting room at the team’s hotel in Frisco as Holtz officially announced the addition of 14 student-athletes to the 2018 signing class hours before the Bulldogs faced off in the inaugural 2017 DXL Frisco Bowl opposite SMU. The day was capped off by LA Tech capturing its fourth straight bowl win with a 51-10 victory over the Mustangs.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning and the Bulldogs added 10 new faces to the signing class as the coaching staff gathered in the football offices at the Davison Athletics Complex in time to see a fresh set of student-athletes choose the Louisiana Tech Football program as their next stop.

In all, the 2018 signing class features 24 new faces as Holtz and his staff brought in 13 players on the offensive side of the ball, 10 on defense and a specialist. Louisiana Tech added 18 players straight out of high school and six transfers, while 11 of the players signed on Wednesday came from the state of Louisiana with 10 student-athletes hailing from Texas. The Bulldogs were also represented by players from Arkansas, Mississippi and Utah.

“Today is a big day for a lot of reasons, but it kind of brings an end to the recruiting class for all of our 2018 signees,” Holtz said. “A total combination of 24 players have now signed and are in the class. There were 14 that signed early, eight that signed today and there are two transfers in the group. When I look at this class, I get excited for a number of reasons. I would say there are a lot of guys on this roster that have the talent to come in and make an immediate impact. You expect the junior college transfers to come in and make an immediate impact, but out of the 18 freshmen, I would say there are probably 15 that if given the opportunity could make an impact as freshmen.

“I know a lot of people say this, but this is the best class we have signed since we have been here. I think I have said it every year I have been here, but I truly believe if you just look at the number of players that had Power 5 opportunities, there are over 22 Power 5 offers combined that this group turned away from to be here at Louisiana Tech. I think that is a huge testament to the University, the academics, this staff, these players and really what we are building here at Louisiana Tech. I want to thank this staff for the incredible job they did recruiting these young men and the tireless work they put into it.”

Louisiana Tech’s offensive line and backfield received the biggest bolsters Wednesday morning with a total of five players from those position groups added to the class and officially set to become Bulldogs next fall. LA Tech also added a wide receiver, a defensive lineman and a defensive back to round out the eight players that joined the LA Tech family on Wednesday morning.

The first National Letter of Intent arrived a little after 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning when hometown running back DeAndre Marcus (Ruston HS/Ruston, La.) signed on with the Bulldogs. From that point, the Bulldogs added DL Steven Shaw (Manvel HS/Houston, Texas), OL Walker Hankinson (Alamo Heights HS/San Antonio, Texas), WR Davon “Smoke” Harris (West Feliciana HS/St. Francisville, La.), DB Derek Turner (West Feliciana HS/St. Francisville, La.) and OL Willie Allen (Tyler JC/River Ridge, La.). The class was complete within the next hour when RB Elijah Hines (Memorial HS/Port Arthur, Texas) and OL Eric Dunn (Kentwood HS/Kentwood, La.) officially became Bulldogs and marked the completion of the 2018 signing class. A pair of transfers in WR Isaiah Graham (TCU/Bastrop, La.) and K Bailey Hale (ENMU/Iowa Park, Texas) were added to the 2018 signing class in January.

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